With major new show features, lots of first time exhibitors,
plus a growing HAZEX area, there’s a real buzz building
around easyFairs MAINTEC 2013, which returns to the NEC
in Birmingham on 5-7 March 2013

The first big new initiative for 2013 is
the MAINTEC Conference. Run
throughout the show, this will
provide an opportunity for all those
involved in plant or facilities
maintenance to hear from
leading experts and
practitioners. Names such as
John Davenport, operations
director, Alcon; Paul Dennis,
technical facilities manager,
Experian; and Dr
Sethuraman Muthuraman,
condition monitoring
engineer, Scottish &
Southern Energy, will draw
on their experiences, new
research and case studies as
they explore the industry’s
hottest topics, challenges and
trends.

Award winners unveiled
Adding some awards drama to the
proceedings, the winners of the MAINTEC
2013 Maintenance Professional Awards will be
announced on the show floor. The awards
recognise those who have applied know-how
and technology to the maintenance process
and delivered real commercial benefits as a
result. There are two categories: ‘Maintenance
Professional of the Year’ and, in support of
newer entrants to the industry, ‘Maintenance
Apprentice of the Year.’ Paul Sacker, managing
director of Crimson Industrial Vision and
Mike Brook, business development director at
ERIKS Industrial Services are on the judging
panel. Mike Brook explains why he thinks the
awards are a good thing:
“It is hard enough for maintenance to get
recognition from within its own company that
it is doing a good job, so for maintenance
professionals to get recognised by peers at
MAINTEC for the job they are doing and to
be given an award for it, not only encourages
the winner but also boosts the maintenance
profession as a whole.”
Paul Sacker agrees: “At a time when all
businesses are managing their costs very
tightly, the management of maintenance can
be crucial in ensuring profitability.

Maintenance professionals have been the
unsung heroes within a business for too long
and they should receive due reward for their
contribution to the efficient running of plant
and equipment.”

Exhibitors
On the exhibitor front, MAINTEC 2013 will
see show regulars such as Schaeffler (UK),
Flowcrete UK, R.Stahl, ERIKS, Idhammar
Systems, SPM Instrument, PRUFTECHNIK
and Prevost UK joined by an array of new
exhibitors such as James Walker, Decksafe
Solutions, AW Chesterton, Metool, SAACKE
Combustion, Intertek, Keytracker and
Lubricus Grutzner and Ernst Schad.

First time exhibitor, SAACKE Combustion,
will be outlining how it has helped Harveys
Brewery, the oldest independent brewery in
Sussex, improve the operation of its boiler
plant. The small turndown of the burner on
Harveys new boiler meant that to maintain
the boiler at its required level the burner
would start and stop every few minutes. This
significantly reduced plant efficiency.

SAACKE recommended fitting a burner with
a superior turndown, thus allowing the boiler
to match the site’s steam demand. Alongside
this SAACKE fitted its SCanView, a combined
burner management and air/fuel ratio
controller. It also identified the brewery’s
original feed water system as an area for
improvement and using its SCanView Boiler
Water Control controlled the flow of water
from the pump – reducing wear and tear on
the pump motor.

MCP Consulting and Training will show
how an Operator Asset Care programme
equips the very people operating production
equipment to improve its reliability and
performance.

T-Cards Direct is launching the latest
upgrade to its new T-Cards Online at the
show. Developed over two years, it is a webbased
tool that helps keep track, allocate, and
improve efficiency. All the features and
benefits of a traditional T-Card system are
present plus additional special features that an
online system offers. Clients can use the
system to keep track of engineers and
contractors out on site.

Xetec will show its FlexMaint computerised
maintenance management software. It is both
network and web based, and has a facility to
edit every menu, button and screen, not only
from customer to customer, but also from
user to user within a company.

Food and drink processors looking for
proactive assistance in the handling,
evaluation, and control of maintenance
chemicals should check out the CRC
Industries UK stand. It will be
demonstrating its new StopLight Food Safety
Programme. The colour coding system,
developed specifically for MRO chemicals, is
said to be beneficial in the control of
chemical product movements. It gives users
and auditors an instant, verifiable, visual
check on the products going into and being
used in zones. By assigning a colour-code to
each applicable factory department, and to
each Ambersil product, the system limits or
negates the potential problem of MRO
chemicals being taken into an area that they
are prohibited from. Furthermore because it
complements existing HACCP controls and
policies a company may have, the system is
easy to adopt.

Valves from steam system and flow control
specialist Valveforce, are playing a key part in
the success of a new balloon dipping plant
supplied to China by Greenbrook
Automation. Valveforce’s Thermal Oil Threeway
Pneumatic Control Valves are proving
robust and reliable. Furthermore, in addition
to thermal oil, Valveforce’s pneumatic control
valves can be designed to handle a wide range
of fluids such as steam, water, nitrogen and
natural gases.

Dust extraction specialist, Dustcontrol UK,
will be showcasing its latest centralised dust
vacuum system. The DC 11 Module is a
complete central unit for source extraction and
industrial cleaning. The company can install
one of these systems in a plant within just a
few days, with limited disruption to plant
productivity. Plus, by reducing noise to 65
dB(A), this makes the DC 11 Module easier to
fit in a building where noise is a challenge.

The ranks of exhibitors will be further
swelled by the HAZEX area, which made a
promising debut at the show in 2012. The
area, which is supported by Sira Test &
Certification, brings many of the UK’s top
hazard prevention experts under one roof to
address the growing health and safety
responsibilities of engineering professionals.

learnShops & Lions Lair
Providing yet more show content will be the
‘free to attend’ learnShops seminar
programme. Featuring 38 sessions across two
theatres, the learnShops will explore an array
of practical topics such as John Roberts of
Idhammer Systems assessing the link
between Energy Reduction, OEE and ROI,
through to Mike O’Brien, of Newson Gale
De-mystifying the Hazards associated with
Static Electricity.

There will also be the Dragons’ Den
inspired contest ‘Lions’ Lair’ where new
maintenance and engineering technologies,
innovations and concepts are pitched to an
expert panel in a bid to be voted best of show.

Institutions
Show supporter, the Institution of Diagnostic
Engineers (IDE) will host a spring conference
during MAINTEC. This will also be attended
by members of the Institution of Local
Exhaust & Ventilation Engineers, another
show supporter.

IDE chief executive, Bill Parker, says: “We’
would urge all our members to put the dates
in their diary. MAINTEC will be a good
opportunity to discuss latest issues, meet all
the suppliers they need, catch up with new
technologies and refresh their knowledge.”
MAINTEC is free to attend and visitor
registration is now open: www.easyfairs.com/
maintecuk.

A more in-depth preview of MAINTEC 2013
will appear in the Maintenance supplement
that accompanies IP&E’s January/February
2013 issue.